[SustainableTompkins] Tips for Greener Holiday

[Elan Shapiro]

The Green Challenge guide to the holidays
By Meaghan O'Neill and treehugger.com
Updated Monday, Nov. 27, 2006, at 10:54 AM ET

Ah, the holidays-season of tinsel and trash. With all the parties and 
presents, Americans, on average, increase their garbage by 25 percent 
from Thanksgiving to New Year's, according to the Environmental 
Protection Agency. That comes to a total of more than 25 million 
tons. From manufacturing, boxing, and wrapping presents, to carting 
them to store shelves and doors, lighting up our houses, and 
traveling elsewhere, this is a time of CO2 hangovers, as well as the 
food and drink kind.

So, what's a carbon-conscious consumer to do? The simplest way to 
stay on your carbon diet is to consume less than you have in previous 
years. But that doesn't mean you have to be Scrooge. (After all, you 
certainly don't want to end up with 
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/07/weather_makers.php>coal in 
your stocking when 
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/01/willie_nelsons_1.php>biofuel 
is the new carbon-savvy you.) Just don't binge.

As a general rule, it's hard to say whether it's better to shop 
online or off. There's the gas it takes to get products and you to 
the mall versus the fuel and extra packaging it takes to ship goods 
to you or the person you're giving them to. And then there's time and 
convenience, always at a premium. It's a lot to balance. To that end, 
some holiday pointers:

* When shopping online or by mail order, consolidate your orders into 
as few shipments as possible.

* Consider the benefits of buying locally made goods, which aren't 
transported over long distances to get to you. Or could you buy 
antiques as presents? They're all about recycling and reuse.

* Consider also gifts such as tickets to a play or concert, a museum 
membership, or art classes. They don't come with boxes and wrapping 
(and won't get shoved on the back of a shelf). Check out TreeHugger's 
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/12/holiday_gift_gu_3.php>roundup 
of holiday gift certificates.

* Could you reduce the number of holiday shopping trips you make, to 
save on gas? Could you bring reusable shopping bags? Most paper bags 
are made from virgin paper. Plastic ones are less CO2 intensive to 
make, but they're still made with petroleum and take hundreds of 
years to decompose in the landfill.

* If you're sending gifts by mail, choose small, light packages, 
which take up less space and fuel than big, heavy ones.

* If you're buying gifts for kids, toys made from natural materials 
such as wood and organic cotton are better for your CO2 count than 
stuff made from plastic, which is derived from fossil fuels.

* Wrapping paper-usually made from virgin materials-is a large part 
of the holiday-waste stream. And if it's shiny or sparkly, it can't 
even be recycled. If every household wrapped three gifts in recycled 
materials (reused 
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/03/mapwrap_repurpo.php>maps or 
cloth make great trimmings), we'd save reams and reams of paper. 
(Here's <http://www.cygnus-group.com/use-less-stuff/>one 
calculation.) Other alternatives include buying gift-wrap made from 
recycled paper or 
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/09/hemp_gift_wrap.php>hemp and 
flax. While you're at it, try 
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/08/biodegradable_c_1.php>Sellotape, 
which is made from biodegradable plant cellulose.

* Every year, 2.65 billion holiday cards are sold in the United 
States. If you're buying, choose cards made from recycled paper and 
avoid the shiny can't-recycle kind. Even better is to send e-cards. 
And recycle the nonshiny cards you receive.

* A deluge of catalogs has probably already descended upon your 
mailbox. It takes 14 million trees to produce the mail-order books we 
receive annually. And along with direct mailings, catalogs account 
for more than 4 million tons of CO2-emitting landfill mass. 
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/newdream/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5078&t=default.dwt>Encourage 
the catalogs you like to use recycled paper and get off the mailing 
lists of those you don't want. 
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/09/greendimes_more.php>Read 
this to find out how.

* 
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2004/12/how_to_pick_a_g.php>Christmas 
trees are a topic of much environmentalist debate. Fake trees are 
reusable but are made from petroleum-derived sources and often 
shipped from abroad. Real trees, for their part, are typically 
sprayed with lots of pesticides. And 
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/07/christmas_trees.php>new 
research shows that pine-tree farms capture less CO2 than the 
hardwood species they're displacing in some parts of the country. 
<http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/organic_christmas_trees.htm>Organic 
Christmas trees are tough to come by. Plus, of the 33 million real 
Christmas trees sold in North America every year, many end up in a 
landfill, emitting carbon dioxide as they rot. If you opt for a real 
tree, be sure to bring it to a <http://www.earth911.org/>local 
recycling center, where it can be chipped for mulch or used whole to 
stabilize wetlands. A better choice may be to purchase a live, 
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/11/potted_christma.php>potted 
tree, which can be 
<http://www.sheridannurseries.com/GardenSite/subGARDENTIP43mainframe.htm>planted 
outside after the holidays. Evergreen varieties such as pine, spruce, 
and fir work well in many regions.

* Replace conventional incandescent holiday string lights with their 
light-emitting diode counterparts. These 
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/11/inexpensive_led.php>energy-efficient 
strings use up to 95 percent less electricity, last up to 10 times 
longer, and are safer since they produce very little heat. LED lights 
are more expensive, but you'll shave a few dollars off your 
electricity bill and pounds off your carbon weight. And unlike 
conventional light strings, if one bulb goes bad on an LED string, 
the rest will still work. No matter what type of lights you use, 
limit yourself to keeping them on for four or five hours a day, and 
turn them off at night.

* Skip the tinsel and other decorations made from 
fossil-fuel-intensive plastics.

* If you're decorating with candles, choose the ones made from 
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/03/bluewick_soy_ca_1.php>soy 
wax or 
<http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/12/treehugger_holi_2.php>beeswax. 
Both are renewable resources, as opposed to regular paraffin candles, 
which are made from petroleum.

* For holiday parties, rent real plates, glasses, and silverware (or 
use your own) instead of using the disposable kind.

* Consider staying close to home rather than blowing your CO2 budget 
on high-emissions travel to faraway places.

(Click 
<javascript:void(window.open('http://www.slate.com/features/greenchallenge/login.aspx?quiz=holidays','_blank','width=875, 
height=700, left=, top=, 
resizable=yes,status=yes,scrollbars=yes,'));>here to take this week's 
action quiz.)
-- 
Elan Shapiro
Sustainable Tompkins Program Co-Chair
Sustainable Living Associates, Principal
Frog's Way B&B
211 Rachel Carson Way
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-275-0249

"We must be the change we want to see in the world"
	          Mohandas Gandhi